Pondering the philosophical side of bioluminescence
By Conservation Easement Manager Torry Nergart.
Nineteenth century botanist Asa Gray explored parts of western North Carolina as well as the idea of non-hierarchical, non-human-centric ways of thinking about life and evolution.
Writing to naturalist Charles Darwin, he commented: “We have really, that I know of, no philosophical basis for high and low.
“Moreover, the vegetable kingdom does not culminate as the animal kingdom does.
“It is not a kingdom, but a common-wealth, a democracy and therefore puzzling and unaccountable from the former point of view.”
With those words, Gray was starting to circle the idea there is no apex to plant life and no one ‘dominant’ form, but rather just difference and diversity.
Niches are opened and then filled with life evolving to exploit the niche.
The physical environment changes again causing the cycle to repeat. There is no apex, but always an antipode on the circle of life and always an exchange or balance to be paid.
Gray still refers to culmination though, as he and many others of the time thought man being made in the image of the creator was the pinnacle of evolution and life on Earth.
Glancing at our current culture, if we are the only sentient creation in the universe then there is a lot of wasted space. If we are the pinnacle of creation, we’ve wasted a lot of time too because the only superlative humans can claim is we are good at being human.
We can’t claim any of the achievements other life forms can easily make. A human cannot emit its own light source, but other forms of life such as insects, fish, crustaceans, bacteria and even fungi can do this extreme.
Bioluminescence has evolved independently circa 40 times and 700 classes of animals have been discovered to have light-producing capabilities.
Here in the mountains, we have the elusive and near-mythic foxfire mushrooms, the ever-charismatic fireflies and a variety of other insects that glow.
The railroad worm beetle lives out its larval stage largely hidden and looks like any other bug, but turn out the lights and we can detect its green glow along its body segments and a red glow emitting from its head. In this case, bioluminescence is likely a defense against nocturnal predators either signaling toxicity or a case of just creating a distraction.
Other reasons for lighting up include sex. It’s the one reason we have our southern summer bucolic evenings with synchronous fireflies now performing courtships for potential mates. Each firefly species has a distinct light blink pattern as well as emergence timing throughout the season.
Mimicry is another great reason to evolve bioluminescence. In fact, there are some species of fireflies that use their flash to lure in other fireflies as prey.
However it is expressed, bioluminescence is one of the many wonders the natural world is capable of. To understand it more, I recommend Lynn Faust’s field guide and natural history “Fireflies Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs.”
Learn what you can about the world around you and I guarantee it will challenge what suppositions you may have as to your station in life.
Feeling haughty? Learning is a remedy. Feeling human? Well, be the best one you can.
